The Penn State Mont Alto men’s basketball team must have felt a little like Fred Flinstone Thursday night.

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Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

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Posted Feb. 8, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Posted Feb. 8, 2013 at 9:00 AM

MONT ALTO — The Penn State Mont Alto men’s basketball team must have felt a little like Fred Flinstone Thursday night.

They tried and tried to turn the granite wheels, but the clock kept winding with no points. Save for an opening layup by Waynesboro Area Senior High School graduate Derek Null, the Lions didn’t score another point until nearly three minutes later on a layup by Sharif Welton.

But the wheels they kept a turning, and Mont Alto rolled to an 82-43 conquest of visiting Penn State Lehigh Valley in a PSUAC game. The win clinched a conference playoff spot for Mont Alto, which had points from all 12 players that saw minutes. Null finished with nine points, including a late 3-pointer that spoke to the team’s grind-it-out mentality no matter what the score is.

After all, the Lions have just one more regular season game, a road game against Penn State Wilkes-Barre at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

“I tell the players, ‘You never know when you’re name is going to be called to play,” said Mont Alto head coach Jack Schenzel, whose team is 12-11 overall, 9-7 PSUAC and has won three straight games. “They know they need to make the most of it.”

Mont Alto celebrated Senior Night, honoring Bowens as well as Null, who will be transferring to the main campus in State College. It was also Dig Pink night on campus, an ongoing effort to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer.

Schenzel saw a lot that made him hopeful of a good showing in the PSUAC playoffs. The Lions split with top seed Beaver as well as York. Mont Alto hasn’t won a conference championship since the 2001-02 season.

“We shots 52 percent, which is 10 percent above our average,” Schenzel said. “That says we’re being unselfish — 17 assists tonight and a lot of points in transition. We held them to 29 percent shooting.”

Schenzel pointed to his team’s impatience against the zone defense, something which was noticably absent Thursday. The Lions moved the ball fluidly, resulting in five assists from Keven King, four by Bobby Ingram and two each by DeVonte Merritt, Bowens and Murray Doumbouva.

Jeremiah Mitchell scored 13 points off the bench to lead the Lions in scoring. Merritt had 10 points, while Jeffrey Bowie finished with nine and Bowens and Greencastle-Antrim High School alum Corey Meyers chipped in with eight.

Lehigh Valley kept the game close in the early minutes. After Mitchell made a jump shot to give Mont Alto an 11-6 lead, Jamal Fort drained a 3-point shot to cut it to 11-9. King made a free throw after being fouled following a steal. But Fort answered with a layup after a Mont Alto turnover to make it a 12-11 game with 10:37 left in the first half.

Page 2 of 2 - The home team reeled off four straight points but Lehigh Valley made seven of the next 12 points to make it 21-18 at the 7:37 mark. The Mount then went on a definitive run, outscoring their counterparts 22-8 to take a commanding 43-26 lead at halftime.

The stats really do tell the story in this one, as Mont Alto had 17 assists compared to five by Lehigh Valley. Mont Alto also outrebounded LV 38-28, led by Merritt with eight.